UnionPay International to Issue First UnionPay Card in the US
Su Ning, Chairman of China UnionPay (right), and Betsy Cohen, CEO of Bancorp (middle), attended the launching ceremony. Dong Xiaojun, Acting Consul General of China in New York (left) was also present at the ceremony
New York, April 29, 2013 -- UnionPay International (“UPI”) and The Bancorp (“Bancorp”) today jointly issued the first UnionPay card (with card number starting with 62 and UnionPay logo on card face) in the United States. Su Ning, Chairman of China UnionPay, and Betsy Cohen, CEO of Bancorp, attended the launching ceremony. Also present at the ceremony are Dong Xiaojun, Acting Consul General of China in New York; Zhang Tao, IMF Executive Director; Zhang Shenghui, Chief representative of PBOC Representative Office for America; Jim Johnson, Division Executive and Senior Vice President of Retail Payments of FIS ; and Hao Xiaohui, Chairman of Financial Committee, China General Chamber of Commerce - USA .
The UnionPay travel card issued by Bancorp is targeted at American tourists and business travelers’ need who travel to Asia Pacific frequently, as well as American residents. The card provides new payments options for local cardholders. The card can be used in more than 90% of ATMs, 80% of the merchants in the US and in all ATMs and merchants in Mainland China, as well as on UnionPay global network in other countries and regions. In the US, the transactions of this UnionPay travel card will be settled in US Dollars; outside the US, the transactions will be settled in RMB in China or in local currency in other regions and debit the USD account without charging currency conversion fees, which also support bank counter and online transaction service.
Su Ning, Chairman of China UnionPay says, “the frequent economic, trade and personnel exchanges between China and the US have caused more diversified payment demands. UnionPay is exploring to provide convenient and favorable services to American cardholders while improving Chinese cardholders’ experiences in the US through mutually beneficial cooperation with local institutions. Bancorp has broad market influence, while FIS is one of the top three card issuing service providers in the US. By teaming up with them, we hope to bring more payment options to American cardholders, and in particular to provide them with more service for using UnionPay card when visiting China.”
“We are excited to become the first issuing bank of the UnionPay travel card in the United States. We look forward to combining the UnionPay brand and its service network with The Bancorp‘s services to deliver the UnionPay travel card for US residents traveling to China," said Betsy Cohen, The Bancorp‘s Chief Executive Officer. As the largest prepaid card issuer in the US, Bancorp has a sales network composed of over 550 banks, which is able to recommend UnionPay cards to a wider range of clients.
Dong Xiaojun, Deputy Consul General of China in New York expresses his congratulations to the debut issuance of UnionPay card in the US. He says, China and the US are important trade partners and tourist source markets to each other. The issuance of UnionPay card in the US by UPI in cooperation with Bancorp and FIS will provide a new payment tool with more convenient services to American citizens who travel to China, help them better understand China, and further strengthen the exchanges and cooperation between the two countries.
At present, UnionPay cards are accepted wildly at ATMs and merchants in the US. Cardholders who travel to this country may identify available ATMs by “UnionPay” logo or logos of local cooperative networks such as “PULSE” and “STAR”. POS terminals that accept UnionPay cards are located in major shopping areas including department stores, restaurants, hotels, supermarkets and renowned brand boutiques which are favored by tourists. Cardholders can not only make PIN-based payment with UnionPay debit cards on POS terminals with PIN pads, but also make signature-based payment with UnionPay credit cards on most POS terminals.